Event Spam..???

[Chander Ganesan <chander(at)otg-nc(dot)com>]

Hello,

I just noticed the following events posted:

Unknown
Date: 2007-09-22 – 2008-12-04 Location: Unknown, Unknown, Dominican Republic
Posted by britneycoros(at)spears(dot)com

a camp band aagps a slut wife a midsummers night dream quotes a family more...

Unknown
Date: 2008-03-17 – 2009-08-29 Location: Unknown, Unknown, Montserrat
Posted by britneyypvga(at)spears(dot)com

a security problem occurred a+ questions free aantal inwoners amsterdam a7 envelope template a job title more...

I'm assuming they aren't there intentionally...

Also, I notice a lot of events in the training database that seem to be dedicated more to "lead generation" than a reasonable effort to run a training course.  For example, 'Certfirst' lists PostgreSQL courses throughout the US in a wide range of different cities.  It is my belief that these courses listings are designed not to actually offer a wide range of courses, but to maintain a "main page" list of courses to generate leads.  Is this an acceptable practice?  I'd hate to see a bunch of vendors adopting this practice to be competitive....

It seems to me that such a practice would not be to the benefit of the community - since it wouldn't help community members find events that were actually running - rather it would put them in touch with companies that could add them to their marketing databases (or they'd get taken with a "bait and switch" - where they sign up for a class in the Bahamas, but end up being redirected to a course in Chicago).

Also, how about putting a disclaimer on the training pages indicating that the listing of training courses doesn't constitute the endorsement of a company by the PG community - and that customers should do their own due diligence to ensure they get what they pay for.  I think many customers look at a listing of training and consider it to be an endorsement by the community..

Thanks

-- 
Chander Ganesan
The Open Technology Group
One Copley Parkway, Suite 210
Morrisville, NC  27560
Phone: 877-258-8987/919-463-0999
http://www.otg-nc.com